Vulcan/Crossfire E - E42 error

[RichB]

The Vulcan is coming up with this error. Tried resets etc and disconnected/reconnected the motor but still persists.
Anyone have anything else worth trying?

Rode it for 3 days straight in pouring rain but now all dried out and GT85 sprayed everywhere to drive out moistures but still persists

 

[Andy-Mat]

The Vulcan is coming up with this error. Tried resets etc and disconnected/reconnected the motor but still persists.
Anyone have anything else worth trying?

Rode it for 3 days straight in pouring rain but now all dried out and GT85 sprayed everywhere to drive out moistures but still persists

If you only had the bike outside for drying, and me having had a similar episode a few years ago, it took about 4 days in a warm room to return to normal.....Just a thought!
Best of luck
Andy

 

[RichB]

I put it away about 1.5 weeks ago, and it has been in a dry (but not warm) summer house since. I would have thought that the GT85 would have driven all the moisture out by now.
Seen something online to say that the E42 error relates to the motor connection from battery to motor but I've had that apart with no obvious signs of damage or moisture.

 

[Andy-Mat]

I put it away about 1.5 weeks ago, and it has been in a dry (but not warm) summer house since. I would have thought that the GT85 would have driven all the moisture out by now.
Seen something online to say that the E42 error relates to the motor connection from battery to motor but I've had that apart with no obvious signs of damage or moisture.

If there is the slightest dampness on the controller PCB, usually in a aluminium box, which are sometimes not completely waterproof, that dampness can turn on a Transistor, FET or MOSFET, when it should be off.
Do place the bike in a warm room, next to a radiator, open that box and let it all warm up for a few days.
It is also possible that a transistor has been damaged of course.
There are nice little testers for e-bikes, that are really cheap and apparently easy to use, see what you think:-

I have heard that some bikes have non standard connectors, so you may need to make up some simple adapters for that, but if you are lucky, your bike will follow the standard connectors.
I have yet to get one to play with, but a friend uses one for business and reckons it saves him hours of work time! Even though he used standard meters to check out for faults before, it gives him the place to look at, repair or replace.
Anyway, it should help you to identify a defective controller error, or motor winding defect or hall effect sensors and can check throttles and brake lever switches switches as well (from my memory only).
They cost under 10 UK Pounds on ebay.
Most people work at an hourly rate higher than that!
regards
Andy

 

[vfr400]

If there is the slightest dampness on the controller PCB, usually in a aluminium box, which are sometimes not completely waterproof, that dampness can turn on a Transistor, FET or MOSFET, when it should be off.
Do place the bike in a warm room, next to a radiator, open that box and let it all warm up for a few days.
It is also possible that a transistor has been damaged of course.
There are nice little testers for e-bikes, that are really cheap and apparently easy to use, see what you think:-

I have heard that some bikes have non standard connectors, so you may need to make up some simple adapters for that, but if you are lucky, your bike will follow the standard connectors.
I have yet to get one to play with, but a friend uses one for business and reckons it saves him hours of work time! Even though he used standard meters to check out for faults before, it gives him the place to look at, repair or replace.
Anyway, it should help you to identify a defective controller error, or motor winding defect or hall effect sensors and can check throttles and brake lever switches switches as well (from my memory only).
They cost under 10 UK Pounds on ebay.
Most people work at an hourly rate higher than that!
regards
Andy

His controller is potted and his connectors are moulded, so none of that will work on his bike.

Error code 42 is a hall sensor failure in the motor. They don't normally fail unless water gets into the motor. You might be lucky with it only being a fault in the motor connector. You don't make it clear what you took apart. If you didn't already do it, pull the connector apart, which is on the left chainstay, and have a look in it. They are notorious for coming apart when you accidentally kick them. make sure that it's pushed all the way in afterwards.

Unfortunately, it's not going to be easy to test your hall sensors from outside the motor without special equipment. You might have to open the motor.

 

[Andy-Mat]

His controller is potted and his connectors are moulded, so none of that will work on his bike.

Error code 42 is a hall sensor failure in the motor. They don't normally fail unless water gets into the motor. You might be lucky with it only being a fault in the motor connector. You don't make it clear what you took apart. If you didn't already do it, pull the connector apart, which is on the left chainstay, and have a look in it. They are notorious for coming apart when you accidentally kick them. make sure that it's pushed all the way in afterwards.

Unfortunately, it's not going to be easy to test your hall sensors from outside the motor without special equipment. You might have to open the motor.

If potted, that should preclude water entering, but does not preclude a failure in the circuitry that receives the signals from the Motor Hall effect sensors.
If he can get to the wiring of the hall effect sensors (the connector that possibly can be kicked?), they are really easy to test, either with a multi Meter:-

Or using the tester I previously mentioned:-

Other videos that may prove interesting to the OP with regard to e-bike hall effect sensor problems:-

An average DIYer should at least be able to define whether the problem is inside the motor, the wiring to the motor, the controller or that connector you mentioned with either a meter or a tester!!
Best of luck.
Andy

 

[Nealh]

Richb will need to buy another controller to motor julet cable for about £15 , he will need to expose the singular wires in the core to carry out any testing . Testing wiring with julet's or higo's are not as easy as SM block type connectors where you can simply poke a probe up the back.

 

[vfr400]

If potted, that should preclude water entering, but does not preclude a failure in the circuitry that receives the signals from the Motor Hall effect sensors.
If he can get to the wiring of the hall effect sensors (the connector that possibly can be kicked?), they are really easy to test, either with a multi Meter:-

Or using the tester I previously mentioned:-

Other videos that may prove interesting to the OP with regard to e-bike hall effect sensor problems:-

An average DIYer should at least be able to define whether the problem is inside the motor, the wiring to the motor, the controller or that connector you mentioned with either a meter or a tester!!
Best of luck.
Andy

You're talking out of a hole in your backside as usual. You have no idea what the Vulcan electrics are like. Cutting and pasting irrelevant stuff that you found on the internet will only confuse OP and anybody else that's trying to fix their Carrera bike.

 

[vfr400]

Richb will need to buy another controller to motor julet cable for about £15 , he will need to expose the singular wires in the core to carry out any testing . Testing wiring with julet's or higo's are not as easy as SM block type connectors where you can simply poke a probe up the back.

He doesn't have a Julet cable. The Vulcan one is wired directly into the potted controller. The 9 pin connector is a special one. That's why I said "special equipment". You can't test anything without one of those connectors or cutting into the motor wire. The only access to the hall sensors is inside the motor.

The Carrera Vengeance has/had a conventional Julet cable, though that might have changed on the 2019 version. I haven't checked.

 

[RichB]

Thanks for all the comments guys, very useful.
To clarify, that only thing I've tried is to disconnect the motor connector give it a clean and put it back together. May be coincidence that it stopped after three days of cycling in almost constant rain, but that seems to tie in with your suggestions around water in the motor?
I do have the original receipt for the bike (it is 12 months old) from Halfords but I got the bike secondhand so I'm not sure they'd honour the (2yr electrical) warranty for me?
Dont really want to open up the motor unless I really have to?

 

[Okkchris666]

I had E42 on my vulcan ebike So since Iam fairly practical I cut the cable near to the controller and also near the motor and soldered the cables individually with hear shrink tubes then one complete larger heat sink tube to run as long as It was practical
Hey presto its now working fine occasionally comes up e42 but is getting better and much longer between error.

 

[Mickyroo]

Iv had a mess on with this vulcan I have wire tests fine with multimeter also changed the entire coil board in the motor out still done it. It’s the crappy suntour plugs when people pull them apart by the wire the wires inside can break free from the pin and when u ride connection gets inerupted and e42. Gonna swap the controller cable and motor cable to a Juliet type plug and be done with the error 42 for good

 

[berka]

Is nothing wrong with the motor . It's a Carrera big issue - wiring connection inside controller unit ! Not much space for wires there .